Mounties outlasts Chargers

Southmont and North Montgomery opened the Crawfordsville Tennis Sectional with a display of toughness and grit. Four of the five matches were not determined until the third set. Southmont ended up defeating their county rivals 4-1. 

Southmont Coach Nathan Poynter, who has been involved with county tennis for many years, said the result might be a first time thing.

“I cannot remember ever having a sectional match go down to having to win the third set,” Poynter said. “At one time I was thinking we were going to possibly win 5-0 and the very next thing I was thinking we could lose 3-2. Both teams played well and competed.”

Charger Coach Devan Plant was complimentary to the winners.

“All the credit to Southmont,” Plant said. “Their kids worked hard from the jump. They deserved to win tonight. We just happened to fall short in three of the four matches that went into three sets.”

In the No. 1 singles match, Mountie Gavin Downey outlasted North’s Beckett Martin. Downey won the first set 6-4 but Martin came back to take the second set 6-2. Downey rebounded in the third set by winning 6-3.

Charger Cade Cole was able to earn the only win for his squad, but it took a while as the match went back and forth. Cole started the match with a 6-1 set win. Southmont’s Caden Allen won the second set 5-7 forcing a third set. The final set was extremely close and Cole won 6-4 to prevent the Mountie sweep.

In the No. 3 singles match, Southmont’s Colton Cory won 6-1, 6-0 for the only two set sweep in the match.

The No. 1 doubles match was the closest of the entire match. Southmont’s team of Owen McCutchan and Dean McGaughey defeated Austin Biddle and Carter Thompson.

The Mounties won the first set in extended play 7-5 before losing the second set 6-4. In the deciding see-saw battle in the third set, the two teams went into extended play again with the Mounties winning 7-6 (8-6).

Not to be outdone, the No. 2 doubles teams also played an extremely close match with the Mounties coming out on top.

South’s team of Chazz Long and Edan Hernandez won the first set 3-6. North Montgomery’s team of Keaton Brown and Cayden Keller won the second set 7-6 (7-5) before Long and Hernandez won the deciding set 6-2.

North Montgomery ends its season with a record of 8-11. Plant thanked his seniors Cade Cole, Beckett Martin and Austin Biddle and wished them the best in the future.

Southmont will play Crawfordsville on Wednesday, Oct. 2.